Atlético B win first pre-season friendly

Youngster Saúl Ñíguez the star in 3-1 win over Colmenar

Atlético de Madrid B played their first friendly of the season yesterday, beating Colmenar 1-3, with goals from Saúl and Hermosa.

Antonio Rivas is finally being given an opportunity to shape his team. In the first few weeks of training, the players have mainly been doing physical work while half of the squad were training with the first team.

Now Rivas has nearly everyone available, but some canteranos that are currently working with the first team squad under Quique Sánchez Flores, like Pulido, Koke and Perea, might still join Atlético B.

In yesterday’s match it was two of the newcomers that took care of the goalscoring. The youngest player in the team, Saúl Ñíguez, found the back of the net twice within the opening half hour.

The offensive midfielder has been promoted from our Juvenil A straight to Atlético B at the age of just fifteen. This past season he has represented Spain U16 and joined Spain U17 for the European Tournament back in May.

Atlético B currently does not have many forwards available and Saúl seems determined to take his chance in preseason.

The third goal was scored by José Hermosa, who scored in the 59th minute after Colmenar had managed to pull one back.